Vice–president of the European Parliament and Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness has expressed her concern that funding for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), should remain intact.

“Naturally the concern of the farming community is that the budget for the CAP is not eroded, leaving less money to support farming and our rural regions.,” McGuinness said.

“This is a debate that I am fully involved in and I welcome comments made by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker that he will fight a full attack on the CAP budget.”

Her comments came ahead of a CAP consultation meeting in Navan, Co Meath, run by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and his Department on 13 February.

A huge focus is being placed on the next CAP budget in 2020, with fears that it could suffer from a drop in financial contributions once the UK leaves the EU.

McGuinness pointed out that the focus should be maintained not just on the money involved but also to the application of CAP on the ground.

“Giving more power to member states to adapt the CAP to meet specific needs is appealing but the impact of such a change needs to be teased out,” McGuiness stated.

“I fully support Commissioner Hogan’s drive for simplification of the CAP at farm level and hope that the proposed reforms will meet this objective.”

She concluded by highlighting the fact that time was of the essence given that legislative proposals on the future of CAP were due by June.

Read more

Suckler farmers and sustainability dominate CAP consultation

EU’s executive ‘already looking’ at cutting CAP budget